Pedestrian deaths up in Pennsylvania, report shows

Pedestrian deaths in Pennsylvania increased by nearly 40 percent in the first six months of 2014, according to a national study released this week.

While the figures are preliminary, "any increase, or lack of a drop, is a concern to us," said Kara Macek, spokeswoman for the Governors Highway Safety Association, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

The report, comparing statistics for January through June of 2014 with the same period a year earlier, found little change in the number of fatalities nationwide. But in Pennsylvania, the number of deaths rose from 53 in the first six months of 2013 to 74 during the same period of last year.

That might not be a complete picture, Macek said. The preliminary data tend to slightly underreport the number of fatalities.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has yet to finalize statistics for all of 2014, but spokeswoman Erin Waters-Trasatt said the total is expected to be similar to that of 2012, when 168 pedestrian fatalities were recorded. That would be an increase of 17 from 2013, or 11 percent.

Pedestrian deaths in Pennsylvania have increased in three of the past four years for which certified data are available. The exception was 2013, when 151 deaths were recorded. The lowest annual total in the last decade was 136 in 2009.

The governors association report said there has been a long-term decline in the number of pedestrian deaths in the U.S. Fatalities decreased from 7,516 in 1975 to 4,735 in 2013 — a 37 percent reduction. More recent trends "cause concern," it said, noting pedestrian deaths have risen 15 percent since 2009, when such fatalities reached a low of 4,109. Vehicle fatalities dropped 6 percent over the same period.

Other findings in the report:

•Four states — California, Texas, Florida and New York — accounted for 43 percent of U.S. pedestrian deaths in 2013.

•Pedestrians age 70 or older have always had the highest per capita fatality rate, but the rate has dropped from 9.3 per 100,000 to 2.2 since 1975.

•Children up to age 12 accounted for 21 percent of the pedestrian fatalities in 1975 but that has fallen to 4 percent.

•Deaths among people ages 20 to 69 made up 48 percent of the pedestrian fatality total in 1975 but that has risen to 76 percent.

•More than two-thirds of the fatalities in 2013 occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Of those 16 years old and older who were killed, 36 percent had blood alcohol levels at or above 0.08.